A Family Complete
by Lady Saffir
Summary: Esme POV. Takes place as a Breaking Dawn missing moments challenge. Esme and Carlisle arrive home to meet their granddaughter.


A Family Complete by: Lady Saffir Rating: G

DISCLAIMER: I own no rights to the Twilight universe that Stephenie Meyer has created.

Esme POV

Carlisle and Emmett burst through the doors with me hot on their heels. The house was quiet, the smell of fresh blood overpowering everything, mingled with the scent of bleach as someone attempted to freshen the air. Emmett checked his forward progress, muttering that he would be outside as his father and I continued our flight up the stairs. Rosalie flew past us, no doubt wanting the comfort Emmett would provide.

Carlisle halted at the closed door, listening intently. I followed suit, amazed to hear the steady beating of Bella's heart, as well as a fast thrumming that I took to be the baby's heartbeat. I could hear Edward inside singing softly, his voice so low the words were almost unintelligble. The song ended, the quiet being broken only by the sound of Edward's ragged breathing. I closed my eyes and leaned against my husband for the briefest of moments, afraid of what I would find on the other side of this door. Our family had been through so much in these past few weeks, Edward most of all. What had this done to his mental state?

"Come in and see for yourself," Edward invited, answering my unvoiced thoughts. He was trying to keep his voice low and even but some strong emotion was running like a swift current underneath.

Carlisle opened the door at the invitation, reaching back to pull me in to the room with him.

I stood in the doorway, the sight before me heartbreaking. Bella was motionless on the table, a sheet pulled up to her waist, her skin so pale it was hard to see where her skin ended and the blanket began. Her face held only a faint trace of a frown mark between her eyebrows and I half expected her to start talking in her sleep as she was prone to do. Edward sat next to her, clutching her hand in one of his while the other held the swaddled form of his child to his chest, his eyes closed with his head tilted back over the edge of the chair. The look of pain on his face! It was as if he had somehow channeled the burning that was consuming Bella, taking it upon himself so that she would be free of the horrible agony.

"No, the morphine is doing that," Edward murmured. "I did that right, at least." He straigtened slowly, his eyes opening to look to where Carlisle and I stood, hesitant to intrude on such a private moment. "Mom, Dad...come meet your granddaughter, Renesmee Carlie Cullen."

His words had my eyes pricking, a dry sob forcing its way out of my throat. Oh, to be able to properly cry at those words! A wonderful event, one to be rejoiced over, yet a cloud of sorrow hung over us all, Bella's tenacity and sacrifice a reminder of how fragile a thing happiness truly was. I took a hesitant step forward, wondering what had changed while we were gone. When we had left he had barely been able to say 'fetus', yet here he stood holding his daughter to his chest as if she were the most delicate of spun glass. "Edward?" I whispered, so many questions and longings held in that one word.

Edward stood slowly, releasing Bella's hand with reluctance. "Come hold her," he entreated me, his crooked smile only a shadow of itself. "Come hold her, I know you want to."

I sank in to the vacated chair slowly, watching as my son carefully and tenderly bent down to place his daughter in my arms, tweaking the blanket away from her face, one finger smoothing an errant curl from her forehead.

"She's beautiful," I whispered, taking in her features. Such a perfect mixture of her parents in her features. Her brow furrowed as her position was shifted, the look so like the one Bella currently wore it was uncanny. "What color are her eyes?" I asked, suddenly needing to know everything about the small miracle in my arms.

"Brown," Edward replied, answering my smile with one of his own. "Bella's eyes exactly." As her name passed his lips he faced spasmed in agony again, turning to where his father stood next to Bella's head. "Carlisle, I don't know if I did it properly," he whispered.

"Tell me what happened," Carlisle ordered, placing one comforting hand on Edward's shoulder. Both men turned to stare down at Bella, Edward reaching out once more to grip her hand tightly in his.

His words poured out, the tale causing me to shiver at the thought of how lucky we were. Had Edward panicked or allowed the smell of blood to distract him, I was afraid that we would have lost Bella - which meant we would have lost Edward as well. Carlisle interupted at several points, clarifying certain points of Edward's medical narrative.

I looked up from staring at my granddaughter's face at the silence that followed. A hint of the man that Edward had been even a week ago was peeking out as he stared down at his wife. "Carlisle," he began, looking up to his father with a tortured expression on his face. "How...how will we know if something went wrong? How will we know if I made a mistake?"

"Edward," Carlisle began, reaching over to pull Edward's face to his own, their foreheads touching, "Edward...son...you have to stop second guessing yourself. You did everything you could. You have to have hope," he whispered fiercely, pulling Edward's head down to place a kiss on his forehead. "You have to have faith." Father and son stared at each other for a beat before Edward closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly.

Renesmee began to squirm in my arms, her eyes opening sleepily to look up at me with what could only be described as confusion. Hoping to lighten the mood, I looked up at Edward with a smile on my lips. "I believe someone's looking for you...dad."

This time his smile was true and unfettered as he reached down to take his daughter in to his arms, placing a gentle kiss on her nose. "Renesmee, I have two very special people I'd like you to meet," he began, turning her so that she could see Carlisle over his shoulder. 


End file.
